Market and industry updates

01.12.2008

All the latest news on the wind energy market.

Belgium

C-power asks for more funds

C-Power, a Belgian energy provider and driving force behind the Thorntonbank Wind Farm in the North Sea, has appealed to the Belgian government to help fund the expansion of the farm from six to 30 turbines. The farm, with its six initial turbines due to have become operational in mid-November, was initially worth €152 million. However, the planned expansion has been thwarted by the credit crunch and the company needs an overall investment of €850 million from the government and tax-payer sponsored Synatom fund – which contains €5.2 billion and was established to cover nuclear waste expenses. If the company finds no further investment by April 2009, the planned increase from six to thirty turbines will be cancelled.

The total capacity of wind turbines in Bulgaria will be 170 MW by the end of 2008, according to the Association of Producers of Ecological Energy (APEEG), up from 110 MW in October. By the end of 2010, there will be a cumulative total of 500 MW installed. The total cost of connecting all this wind energy, along with the planned solar for 2010, to the grid, is estimated at around €153.37 million.

Wind turbine maker AAER has won a preliminary deal to supply 61 turbines of 1.65 MW to Northland Power, an independent energy company, for its wind farms in Quebec. The agreement is worth €95.31 million (CA$ 142million) and should be finalised by the end of 2008. AEER website

Czech Republic

Wind power capacity to grow by 21 MW in 2008

According to Chairman of the Czech Society for Wind Energy (CSVE) Michal Janecek, new installed wind energy capacity will go up by 21 MW in 2008, compared to 63 MW in 2007. Janecek has said that it is mostly because wind energy is insufficiently supported by the government and local authorities. The current total installed capacity of Czech wind power is 133 MW, and it produces 0.5% of the country's electricity compared to the EU average of 3.78%. CSVE website

Denmark

Dong Energy installations increase

Danish state-owned power company Dong Energy boosted turnover to €5.59 billion (DKr 41,612 million) in the first nine months of 2008, up from DKr 27,401mn in the same period in 2007. Dong Energy's Managing Director Anders Eldrup said the company aims to make use of the global financial crisis to make lucrative acquisitions of wind turbine projects. Financial report

Estonia

Iberdrola and EBRD to buy 25% of OU Raisner

Spanish renewable energy firm Iberdrola and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have agreed to buy a 25% stake in wind energy developer OU Raisner. OU Raisner is currently building the 150 MW Luganuse wind farm in Estonia.

GDF Suez has asked Nordex to deliver and install 30 of its turbines for 2010, for the Germinon wind farm project in Marne. The Germinon farm will have a total capacity of up to 75 MW, and should produce up to 200,000 MWh annually.

EDF Energie Nouvelles hopes to invest €150-200 million in an offshore wind farm off the coast of Pouliguen, France. The wind farm will have 12 wind turbines, and would be operational by the end of 2011. EDF Energies Nouvelles website

Global

IEA says renewables will be second source of power soon

According to the Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Dr Fatih Birol, renewable energy will become the second biggest source of power generation globally after coal, but in front of natural gas at some point between 2010 and 2015. High fossil fuel prices, government backing and falling investment costs are expected to stimulate development of renewable energy. The IEA has just launched its World Energy Outlook 2008, which points out that in 2006, renewables made up 18% of the global energy mix, and this is set to rise to 20% in 2015 and 23% in 2030. Press release

Outlook for 2009 installations downgraded

Due to the financial crisis, Danish-based Make Consulting has downgraded its predictions for 2009 wind turbine installations in Europe and the US. In September, Make concluded that the credit crunch would only have a minor impact on the wind industry, but the global financial situation has since deteriorated. Total global new installations for next year are now expected to be around 22-23 GW, compared to expectations of around 24 GW for 2008. This would mean an overall increase of 10-15% worldwide. The US will drop the most – up to 30%, while Europe will suffer more lightly, installing 10% less than in 2008.

The Greek metallurgy and energy holding, Mitilineos Omilos Epihiriseon, has bought Dong Energy's wind farm portfolio in Greece for what is thought to be a sum of about €27.3 million. DONG website

India

Wind energy equipment makers to set up plants

At least ten wind energy component manufacturers will set up shop in India in the next 18 months according to the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE). If annual investments stay over €4.65 billion (Rs 300 billion), around 5,000 MW of capacity will be added every year as from 2012. Currently, annual capacity additions are between 1,700MW and 2,000MW. According to turbine manufacturers Vestas, this level of investment can be achieved with clear policy initiatives, financial and generation-based incentives as well as a legislative framework.

The Moroccan government has raised its renewables target from 4% to 10% by 2012. The Centre for Renewable Energy Development (CDER) will work with laboratories and universities to achieve the goal. CDER website

Portugal

EDP Renovaveis increases wind power installed capacity

The Portuguese electricity producer EDP Renovaveis increased its gross installed capacity by 515 MW in the first nine months of 2008. In Europe the company installed capacity by 49 MW in Acampo Arias, 18 MW in Lucillo and 44 MW in SEA Tarifa, Spain and also 22 MW in France to make a total of 133 MW. In the US, the company installed 679 MW of wind power.EDP Renovaveis website

Romania

GE Energy to supply 139 turbines to CEZ

CEZ, the Czech energy group, are investing €1.09 billion in a wind farm project in Tulcea, Romania. The US company GE Energy will provide the 139 turbines needed. The farm should come online by December 2009.

85% of the stock of Romanian wind power generators Renovatio Power and Cernavoda Power has been taken over by Portuguese renewable energy company EDP Renovaveis for an estimated €8.4 million. Both the companies have wind power projects in the pipeline of about 736 MW. Press release

Spain

Iberdrola Renovables increases its power generation

Spanish renewable energy generation firm Iberdrola Renovables increased its installed power by 70.5% in the third quarter of 2008 compared to a year earlier. The firm now has a total of 8,487 MW installed. Electricity generation at the firm went up by 83.6% compared to the previous year in the January to September period, producing 12.09 billion kWh. Over 96% of this came from Iberdrola’s wind farms worldwide. Press release

Wind power lowers electricity prices

According to Spanish energy firm Endesa, wind power has started making electricity prices in Spain drop, with a MWh now costing €6 less. The firm has also revealed that wind power has generated savings of around €1.25 billion for the country's energy trade balance. Endesa website

Vestas opens control systems factory in Olvega

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, has opened a new control system unit manufacturing facility in the Spanish town of Olvega, in the Castilla y Leon province, investing approximately €10 million.

Swedish wind power association Svensk Vindenergi is calling for higher subsidies for wind farms offshore, since they are more expensive to build than onshore wind farms.

Countries such as Denmark, Germany, the UK and Ireland have all introduced separate support systems for offshore wind farms. In the UK, wind energy produced offshore is compensated by a sum corresponding to SEK 0.93 (€0.09) per kWh, while the subsidy to onshore wind energy is SEK 0.62. In Sweden, the support is SEK 0.35 per kWh for both types of wind energy. Wind energy firms Vattenfall and Eon would like to see higher compensation for offshore wind energy before they decide to invest in wind farms in Kalmarsund.

Swedish company Vattenfall have announced their wind farm safety goals, entitled 'zero vision’. There must be no personal injuries or damage to materials that could affect electricity production. In order to reach these goals, the company put in place a non-stop observation programme of all their wind farms as from September this year.

At the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) conference on 21 October 2008, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the country had overtaken Denmark as the world leader in offshore wind energy capacity, with a total installed capacity onshore and offshore of over 3 GW.

Nonetheless, planning applications for onshore wind farms only have a medium success rate, at 54%. Furthermore, the National Grid was designed to handle a capacity of 75 GW, but by 2020 there is planned to be about 120 GW connected. Investments in the grid need to be ensured by the prolonging of the current incentive scheme.

Airtricity, part of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), and SeaEnergy Renewables, part of Ramco Energy, are forming a 75/25 joint venture to bid for an unspecified number of offshore projects of the coast of Scotland. Iberdrola Renovables unit ScottishPower Renewables has formed a partnership with Vattenfall of Sweden to do the same. Bids for the latest series of offshore wind generation tenders are still being considered by the British Crown Estate. Airtricity websiteVattenfall websiteIberdrola websiteSeaEnergy Renewables website

UK government must provide more incentives for offshore wind power development

A report just released by The Carbon Trust says that the UK government should allow offshore wind farms to be built nearer the shore. Recently progress on the many planned offshore wind farms has slowed through lack of support and rising costs. The report says that there is a risk that little additional wind power capacity will be built by 2020 beyond the 8 GW that is already planned or operational.

The report says that operators could probably save at least €20.26 billion (£16 billion) simply by being allowed to build in shallower waters, where turbines are easier to put up and maintain. This would not necessarily mean the farms would be visible from the beach.

According to the report, the government's incentives scheme needs to be made more attractive for more investment. Large companies are pulling out of offshore schemes to go after cheaper onshore wind farms, meaning the UK could risk missing its EU targets. Around 29 GW of offshore wind power would be required to meet the targets, but less than a third of this is planned for, mainly due to the spiralling costs of raw materials.

The report says that €709.5 million (£600 million) of public money and €1.4 million (£1.2 billion) of private funding could bring significant breakthroughs for the industry, which could cut the overall bill of technology by around €16.6 million. This could also lead to around 70,000 jobs in the UK, and annual revenues of €9.5 billion in the UK and abroad.

A wind farm will be built in South Dakota, US, as part of a joint venture between BP Wind Energy and Clipper Windpower. The huge project should have a capacity of 5,050 MW, with turbines supplied by Clipper, which would also provide operations and maintenance services for the project over a five-year period. BP will pay Clipper €16.76million ($26.25 million).

A 150 MW of built by Acciona in Dakota in the US has now become operational. It will run using 120 of Acciona’s AW-1500 turbines and supply power for the equivalent of 60,000 homes. This farm is the third to be operated in the US by Acciona, with three more under development. The company invested €381 million in the Dakota wind farm.

DeWind, a subsidiary of Composite Technology (CTC) and Higher Perpetual Energy have formed a joint venture to build four new wind farms in Texas, US. DeWind is to supply the turbines, and Higher Perpetual Energy the development services.

The DeWind SWI Wind Farms venture is currently 51% owned by DeWind, but stakes may be given to investors who become involved with the project at a later date.

Contractors have already been selected for the first of the wind farms, which will have capacity of 10 MW facility. This will be the smallest of the four farms.

When complete, the four farms will have a combined capacity of more than 2 billion kilowatt-hours. DeWind will supply wind turbines, while Higher Perpetual Energy will provide development services.

EWEA is the voice of the wind industry, actively promoting wind power in Europe and worldwide. It has over 600 members, which are active in over 50 countries, making EWEA the world's largest and most powerful wind energy network.